We're pleased to present this guest post from The Next 36's Jon French in advance of this weekend's hackathon in Toronto and Waterloo... read on!
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The intriguing world of wearable tech will be on display at Google in Toronto and Waterloo this weekend in what will be one of the Canada’s first wearable computing hackathons.

Google Canada will host the 18-hour dual-venue event on behalf of The Next 36, a program for Canada’s top undergraduate entrepreneurs. To no surprise, (given the buzz around wearable tech devices like Google Glass) the hack sold out in just 2 weeks, attracting over 140 eager student devs to spend Friday night and Saturday building software for hardware on some of the most cutting-edge technology out there. Devices which are, for the most part, still unavailable on the market today.

The hackathon is the first featuring the Myo, a gesture-controlled armband from Waterloo’s Thalmic Labs set for release in 2014. Two Next 36 Alumni are spearheading Thalmic’s involvement – Stephen Lake (Co-founder) and Scott Greenberg (Director of Developer Relations). "I'm really looking forward to getting early Myo units into the hands of developers at The Next 36 Hackathon,” says Lake. “For the first time, developers outside of Thalmic Labs will be interacting with Myo, and we can't wait to see what they come up with."

In addition to the Myo, hackers will have an opportunity to build applications for the Pebble smartwatch and the Kiwi motion sensor device.

Backed by Shopify and Communitech as well, the hack has garnered an impressive panel of judges, including leading developers, engineers and managers from Thalmic Labs, Google, Shopify, BNOTIONS, Oikoi and Bitmaker Labs.
Hackers will be judged on a matrix of their app’s concept, the quality of the “hack product” and functioning demo. The top 3 teams in each location will walk away with a slew of prizes including a team set of Myos, pebble smartwatches and advance spots at The Next 36 National Selection Weekend in late November.

Stay tuned for results and hack highlights! Posted by Jon French, Director of Marketing & Events, The Next 36